About Me

While attempting to upload a new photo I experienced a few technical difficulties. So to document as we go.....I finally got my photo to properly display. If you didn't document it didn't happen!! I am new to html coding so I have been making lots of mistakes. At one point I inavertantly created several branches that I eventually deleted but in the process I deleted my .gitlab-ci.yml file so nothing would update. I think I have it now....but we will see...

Failed prints make good hair!!

Hi! I am Andy Bruening the Program Innovation Officer at PAST Foundation and lead the Maker/Fab Lab at PAST in Columbus, Ohio. Over the last 20+ years I have been teaching high school science and engineering and I have been coaching/mentoring FIRST Robotics Competition Team 3324 for 14 years. As a geologist, I have not had formal training in engineering but I enjoy problem solving and working with my hands. I have had to learn digital design and fabrication on my own so I could teach it to my students.

I have been working in our Fab/Maker Space for more than 10 years. I started with 3D printing using a Makerbot Cupcake Printer and the Shopbot CNC. Over the years, I have created many successful project AND many failed projects. As I tell my students "you can learn more from failure than you can from success" so in some ways I have learned A LOT! We now have updated our shop to include several vinyl cutters, Prusa Mini 3D printers, t-shirt printers, Epilog laser cutter, plasma cutter and two CNC machines (48"x96" convert-a-table and 24"x36" ATC).